Commentary on John, Chapter 6
CHAP. VI.
Verſe 9. Five Barley loaves, and two ſmall Fiſhes.]
VVAs not Tyraboſco hardly driven; when, from theſe five loaves, and two fifhes, he concluded ſeven Sacraments? So in the ſecond C uncell of Nice under Irene, Ʋia tu…a by Sir Hump. Linde. p 164. Heyl. Geo. p. 533.John (one of the Legates of the Eaſtern-Churches) proved the making of Images lawfull, becauſe God had ſaid, Let us make man after our own Image. A ſound argument to overthrow one of Gods Commandements, and yet it prevailed.
Verſe 11. He diſtributed to the Diſciples] Theſe fiveloaves, (by a ſtrange kinde of Arithmetick) were multiplied by diviſion and augmented by ſubſtraction. The Macedonians found, that not getting, but giving, is the way to thrive, 2 Cor. 9.8. Ex fame quaeſtum captabat Joſephus; & benignitate ſua emit Aegyptum nos etiam coelum. So in ſpirituall alins and good offices: Gods gifts grow in the hands of them that employ them, to feed many. Salienti aquarum fonti undas ſi tollas, nec exhauritur, nec extenuatur, ſed dulceſcit. D. Bedding….Scientia, docendi officio, dulcedinem ſentiat, non minutias.
Verſe 14. This is of a truth, that Prophet] Yet anon they are at it, what ſign ſheweſt thou? Verſe 30:that you may know them to be the Phariſees diſciples. Of whoſe ſoure leaven alſo, that in the next verſe ſavours; where they would needs take him by force, to make him a King. They could not imagine a Meſſias, that had not an earthly Kingdome.
Verſe 15. Take him by force] Superſtition will needs obtrude upon Chriſt will-worſhip, whether he will or no, and deſpite him with ſeeming honours, as the Lycaonians would needs have ſtollen a ſacrifice upon Paul and Barnabas; and the Salvages of Nova Albion, upon Sir Francis Drake, and his company, at their parting with them. They had ſet it on fire ere we were aware, faith he; we laboured by all means to with-hold, or withdraw them, but could not prevail; till at length we fell to prayers, and ſinging of Pſalms, The world encompaſled by Sir Francis Drake, p. 81.whereby they were allured immediately to forget their folly, and leave their ſacrifice unconſumed, ſuffering the fire to go out; and, imitating us in all their actions, they fell a lifting up their hands and eyes to heaven, as they ſaw us to do.
Verſe 16. His Diſciples went down to ſea] By Chriſts own command, Matth. 14.22. Mark. 6.45. yet they met with a ſore ſtorm. So may the beſt with trouble, in their moſt lawfull employments, Pſal. 34.18. But theſe make them look to their tackling, patience; to their anchor, hope; to their helm, faith; to their card, the Word; to their Captain, Chriſt, who is ever at hand.
Verſe 17. Jeſus was not come to them] This was worſe to them then the ſtorm. It was wofull with Saul, 1 Sam. 28.15.when the Philiſtims were upon him, and God would not come at him, nor anſwer him. So when danger or death is upon a man, and God is far from him. That doom, Jere. 16.13. I will not ſhew you favour, was worſe then their captivity.
Verſe 21. Immediately the ſhip was at land] A dying Saint hath no ſooner taken death into his boſome, but he is immediately landed at the key of Canaan, at the Kingdome of heaven. Aug de civ. Dei lib 9. …. 16.Fugiendum est ad clariſſimam patriam: ibi pater, ibi omnia, ſaid Plotinus the Platoniſt.
Verſe 26. Becauſe ye did eat of the loaves] More then for love, Vix diligitur Jeſus propter Jeſum, Aug. But as the mixt multitude came out of Egypt with Iſrael for a better fortune, and as he Math. 20. As the harlot looks to the love-tokens more then to the Donour: ſo was it here.
Verſe 27. Labour not for the meat, &c.] When Baſil was tempted with money and preferment, he anſwers, Pecuniam da quae permaneat, ac continuò duret, gloriam quae ſemper floreat. The faſhion of this world paſſeth away, as the water of a River that runs by a City, or as a fair picture drawn upon the ice, that melts away with it. Men come to the worlds felicities, as to a Lottery, with heads full of hopes, but return with hearts full of blanks.
Labour for the meat that endureth] We may not dream of a delicacy in Gods wayes, or think that good things will drop out of the clonds to us, Plut in Sylla. Revſ. Symb A foreign Luk. 13.14.as Towns were ſaid to come into Timotheus his toyls, whiles he ſlept. We muſt be at pains for Heaven. Laborandum was one of the Emperours motto, and may be every Chriſtians. Strive they muſt even to an agony, ere they can get into the ſtrait gate: together with our ſtooping, there muſt be a certain ſtripping of our ſelves.
Verſe 29. This is the work of God] The foreign. It is an eaſie matter to beleeve (thinks the worldling) but he that goes about it, ſhall finde it as hard a work to beleeve the Goſpel, Rogers of Futh.as to keep the Law. For God muſt enable to both. Non minns difficile eſt nobis velle credere (ſaith Beza) quam cadaveri volare. Bez. conſeſs. pag. 22.We beleeve with much conflict, ſaith another. The combat was not ſo great betwixt Michael and Satan, about Moſes dead body, as between Satan and the beleeyer, Dine of the deceit… heart.concerning Chriſts living body. Faith is fain to tug wreſtle for it, till it ſweat again.
Verſe 49. Did eat Manna] They fed upon Sacraments, and yet many of them periſhed eternally. A man may go to hell with Font-water on his face, and be haled from the table to the tormentour, as he Matth. 22.13.
Verſe 50. This is the Bread] foreign, pointing to himſelf. So David, This poor man (meaning himſelf) cried, and the Lord heard him, &c. Pſal. 34.6. So Hic ſat lucis, ſaid Oecolampadius on his death bed, laying his hand on his breaſt.
Verſe 51. If any man eat, &c.] Hic edere eſt credere, ſaith Auguſtine: Faith being the ſouls hand, mouth, ſtomack, &c. The Fathers commonly expounded this part of our Saviours Sermon, as ſpoken of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper; and ſo fell into that errour, that none but Communicants could be ſaved: Wherefore alſo they gave the Sacrament to Infants, and put it into the mouthes of dead men, &c. We are not to think that either our Saviour ſpake …re properly, and eex profeſſo, of the Sacramentall eating of his fleſh, and drinking of his bloud; or that this diſcourſe pertains nothing at all thereunto. The Papiſts have expunged a great part of Origens Commentary upon this Chapter, as directly making againſt their monſter of Tranſubſtantiation. Act. and Mon. fol. 772.And Cardinall Campeius affirmed againſt Luther, that faith is not neceſſary to him that receiveth the Sacrament. As for Bellarmine, although we beleeve, Bell. lib. 3. cap. a. de Eccleſ. milit.ſaith he, that all vertues are found in the Church, yet that any man may be abſolutely ſaid to be a member of the true Church, we do not think that any inward vertue is required, but only an externall profeſſion of the faith, and ſuch communion of the Sacraments, as is received by the outward man. This mark very well agrees to the Church of Rome, wherein if any be truly vertuous, it is by meer accident; as Cicero wittily ſaid of the Epicures, Si quando viri boni ſint, vinci bonitate naturae.that if any one of them were good, he was meerly overcome by the goodneſſe of his nature; for they taught a licencious looſeneſſe.
Verſe 53. Except ye eat the fleſh, &c.] Fulbert Biſhop of Charters (who lived in the eleventh century) ſpeaking upon the Euchariſt, hath theſe words; Except ye eat the fleſh of the Son of man, &c. Facinus vel flagitium videtur jubere. Fol. 168.Figura ergo eſt, praecipiens paſſioni Domini eſfe communicandum tantum, & ſuaviter & utiliten recondendum in memoria, quod pro nobis caro ejus crucifixa & vulnerataest. Now in the year of Chriſt 1608. there was ſet out an edition of him in Paris, where we have interſerted, after Figura exgo eſt, theſe words, Dicit Hareticus; to make what Fulbert ſpoke aſſertivè, from Auguſtine, to ſpeak recitativè of the Heretick, as if the heretick ſhould ſay, This is a figure, &c. which if admitted, then there's no Tranſubſtantiation. De doct Chriſt. lib. a. cap. 16.The words produced by Fulbert, are indeed S. Auguſtines. And the publiſher of Eulbert being told hereof, that the words were Auguſtines, that he had branded with herefie, he put afterwards his Dicit Haereticus amongſt his Errata, as ye may read in Biſhop Ʋſhers anſwer to the Jeſuites challenge, pag. 15.
Verſe 60. This is an hard ſaying] The hardneſſe was in themſelves, not in the word; but that muſt bear the blame howſoever: as ſhe in Seneca that was ſtricken with ſudden blindneſſe, and then cried out of the light. An hypocrite is not diſcovered, till upon ſome criticall point. If it come to a matter of coſt, he cries, What needs this waſte? if of pains, This is an hard ſaying.
Verſe 63. It is the Spirit that quickneth] Had thoſe carnall Capernaites but ſtayed out our Saviours Sermon, they might have bin ſatisfied for the ſenſe of his words, that they ſo ſtumbled at, and had not patience to hear him here expounding himſelf. Quoniam Christiani (Pontificii) manducant Deum, quem adorant, ſit anima mea cum Philoſophis, ſaid Averroes; who, had he conſulted with Divines, might have known more.
Verſe 69. We beleeve and have known] In matters of Divinity, we muſt firſt beleeve, and then know, not know, and then beleeve. In humane Sciences it is otherwiſe: Men are brought to aſſent and beleeve by experience, knowledge, and ſenſe; as to beleeve that fire is hot, &c. But here, beleeve, and aſſent, go before experiment all knowledge, ſenſe, and uſe.